Agony
by seraph14
Summary: Rating just in case. A high school junior is transported back to the League's time. They know she's important for something, but what is it? Can they figure it out before her failing body gives in to death?
1. The Fall

Precisely one-hundred and six years after the League's legendary adventure...

A girl named Pegeen walked through the halls of her high school. Dimly, she heard the voices of the other students, laughing and carrying on...all unaware of her plight.

_Dream of fire..._

Quotes from movies and music mingled freely in her mind. Having just seen 'Hellboy', Rasputin's voice was one of the many that sped through her veins.

_Of fire..._

For a second, it seemed as though the halls of her school really were engulfed in flames. Then, Peggy blinked and they were gone. All that remained was a splitting headache and that nagging ringing in her ears. An odd tingling sensation spread through her body and Pegeen looked down in astonishment. Again, her mind played tricks on her eyes. Her hands were covered with blood..._her_ blood.

She opened her mouth to shout for help, but the blood quickly vanished as well. **Am I crazy?** Pegeen wondered. The warning bell rang loudly, forcing Peggy to run up the stairs to the second level of her school. She knew better than to run up stairs...the pain in the back of her head was always excruciating. Slowly, as if in slow motion, Peggy felt herself begin to fall back...and back...and back...

_Fire..._

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I know it was short, but I'm going to be uploading the next chapter tomorrow. Consider this a...prelude ;)


	2. The Arrival

"_Wot the hell is she wearing?"_

"_**I think–I think she's in men's clothing..."**_

Pegeen's eyes fluttered open several hours later, after drifting in and out of consciousness for the past day. The unfamiliar white walls mixed with steel pressed in all around her. Peggy tried to scream, only to find that her throat was dry and she was mute until she could drink something. There was a piercing pain in the side of her head, and she cast her eyes about, searching for someone to give her an answer.

"Good, you're awake." A warm voice broke through the quiet thrumming of engines. "We were afraid you might not wake up. Your vitals were alarmingly low."

Peggy adjusted her head to face the direction of the voice. She licked her cracked lips with a dry tongue that rasped across the split parts. "Wh–where am I?" She couldn't manage anything above a whisper. As though sensing her needs, the brunette woman poured a glass of water for the teenaged girl.

"You are in the brig of the Nautilus." Wilhelmina Harker replied gently, helping the girl to sip tentatively at the cool water.

"How did I get here?" Pegeen rasped, taking the cup and sitting up so that she could drink it more easily. She glanced down at the white sheets that were wrapped quite tightly around her body. Abruptly, she realized that her school clothes were nowhere to be seen and all that she wore was a rather old-fashioned nightgown.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man with dark, brassy hair enter the room. Mina frowned slightly, "We were hoping that you could tell us. We found you on top of the Nautilus. You are lucky that the Captain was above deck at the time. We might have submerged, and then you would have drowned." Pegeen shuddered and rubbed the back of her throbbing neck. She must've slept on it wrong. "We were also..." Mina added hesitantly, as though she was speaking taboo words, "Hoping that you could tell us why you were dressed in...in men's clothing."

"Men's clothing?" Pegeen echoed, mystified. "I was only in jeans and a–oh." Maybe these people were some sort of weird cult...in a submarine...dressing in 200 year old fashions...she really shouldn't ask, but, "What year is this?" Her dark auburn hair hung loosely over her shoulder, looking even darker against the pale cream nightgown.

"1900." The man replied, walking over with a bandage. "You must've taken a bump to the head." He reached out as though to stroke her hair and Pegeen flinched. Jekyll looked at her with gentle patience, "I'm only going to change your bandage. You don't want an infection, now do you?"

Pegeen reached up to her neck again and felt around until her fingers encountered a bandage. Her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment, and she lowered her hand so that Jekyll could resume his duties. "Sorry." She mumbled, dropping her eyes.

"It's quite alright," He replied, just as quietly. Pegeen could tell he was as shy as she felt right now. Although he was certainly less embarrassed and more at ease.

"I'm Pegeen." She said suddenly, inclining her head to let the doctor undo the bandage. Cool air caressed the open wound, making the blood sticky.

"And I am Wilhelmina Harker." The woman replied, hands folded primly in her lap. "The man treating you is Doctor Jekyll. So, am I to understand that you have no knowledge of how you arrived here, nor of the reasons for your...unusual choice in clothing?"

"Umm...yes?"

Again, not the longest chapter in the world. Thank you to loyaltonone for being my FIRST REVIEWER! Whoo!


	3. The Discussion

"She claims to be from the future," Jekyll exclaimed, sounding astonished. "From the year 2005. Her clothes are...unusual"

"Unusual!" Nemo swelled up like a blowfish. "It is downright sacrilegious! The women of England are immodest enough without the future generations digressing to–to heathenism!"

The others at the table stirred restlessly, all avoiding the Captain's eyes. "That may be, Captain," Mina replied, perhaps a bit more coolly than usual, "But the fact remains that she is a mere child. How she dresses is a fault of her ancestors, not of her own. We should turn our attention away from her attire and more to the question of: How did she get here? And then perhaps 'why'?"

"And wot are we goin' ta do abou' it?" Skinner added helpfully, earning himself a few mildly startled looks. Abruptly he realize that his reputation as a wisecracking joker was at stake, so he added swiftly with a little smirk, "Check below, Sawyer."

After Sawyer had ascertained that his pants were indeed closed, he glared at Skinner, "You're not helping." Skinner simply smirked, knowing that his reputation was saved.

"Gentlemen, please!" Mina interrupted, faintly disgusted at the exchange. "She is waiting just outside the doors. If she is from the future, then there is a purpose for her being sent to the past. We should try to ascertain what that reason is."

"And soon." Jekyll said quietly, cringing imperceptibly from everyone's eyes. "While she was unconscious, I examined her and found her to be in...very poor health."

"Just how poor are we talkin' here?" Sawyer asked, brow furrowed in puzzlement.

"If her body continues to atrophy at this rate...she will be dead within a month. I don't know her other symptoms. It's possible she will die before then."

"Is she aware of this, Doctor?" Nemo asked, disregarding her heathenish habits to replace them with concern. Nemo didn't have any children of his own but he did have a soft spot in his heart for those who were abandoned as such.

"It's hard to say," Jekyll sighed, "It is difficult to believe that she would be unaware of these things, but I doubt she knows their true implications."

"Well, wot are we waitin' for then? Let's get this over with."

"For once I agree with you, Mister Skinner." Mina replied coolly, rising to go bring Pegeen in while Nemo had his cooks bring in lunch.

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Thanks to loyaltonone, who is my longest standing reviewer so far ;) And thanks to Caiden McBrien and ToTaKeKe13for reviewing as well. Any and all suggestions are welcome. R&R guys!


	4. The Supper

Mina walked out into the hall and looked down at the frightened teenager. Her dark brown eyes were suffused with compassion but tempered by a cool distance. "We're about to eat, Pegeen. We would like it if you joined us now."

Pegeen nodded, auburn waves of hair pulled back by a thin cord of ribbon and tightly wrapped into a long french braid. Her reddish-brown eyes were almost maroon in hue; a fact that Mina found unsettling. Peggy stood up, looking down at her colorful Indian robes. It had been quite an ordeal to find something to wear as Mina and the crew members had adamantly refused to return her clothes to her. The older woman had attempted to put Pegeen in a corset but before the strings were tightened more than an inch, Pegeen had wriggled out of it and refused to go near the starched collar dress Mina was going to let her borrow. Finally, one of the crew members had intervened and requested Captain Nemo to let Pegeen wear the looser, much more comfortable robes that he kept on board for women of his own religious persuasion.

Needless to say, the Captain didn't have to be offended by her sacrilegious dressing habits anymore. Pegeen felt a sharp pain arc through her temples as she rose but ignored it. These pains had been part of her ever since she could remember. The shortness of breath did bring a spark of pain into her tinted eyes, but nothing exceptionally noticeable. "Thank you, Miss Harker." She said quietly, adopting the demure stance she had used all her life. Of course, she refined her speech a little more too. She didn't quite believe that she was in the past, but a submarine with a cult seemed too outlandish to be true. The government would have found them on radar ages ago! As she entered the large room, she thought she saw fire out of the corner of her eye. When she blinked, it was gone.

Nothing Pegeen had ever seen before could have prepared her for the motley crew that assaulted her vision when she entered the dining room. She recognized Dr. Jekyll and Miss Harker, of course, but her memory came flooding back like a tidal wave. "HAH!" She shrieked with laughter, leaning against the doorjamb. "Oh, this is rich. I mean, the submarine bit is a little overboard, don't you think? Where's the camera?"

Pegeen was relieved. She had just figured out this whole business. One of her friends had set up an elaborate prank! They all knew how much she loved movies and the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen happened to be one of them. These people looked a lot like the actors, but it was obvious that they were only lookalikes. "What show is this? Candid Camera? Punk'd? Come on, the jig is up." Her broad grin slowly faded at the exquisitely stunned looks on their faces. They were looking at her like...like...

"Yor a bloody madman," Skinner breathed, "She's a bloody madman!" He informed the rest of the League, in a matter-of-fact tone.

"You–you mean that...this..." Pegeen saw dark spots dancing in her vision and she clutched at the wall for support. No actors, no matter how good, could pretend this way. The only explanation was that this...was real? "It isn't a prank?" She asked weakly.

Tom was the first to realize that Pegeen wasn't insane, only disoriented and terribly frightened. He thought he detected a gleam of pain and fear in her eyes but it was quickly shielded by a barrier of sheer red color. "'Fraid not, Miss."

After a quick glance at Mina for approval, Pegeen stumbled blindly towards the nearest seat and collapsed silently. Her arms looked like twigs, protruding from within the billowing robes. She was young in the face with an aura of wounded innocence...like one who knows too much about the world and stubbornly clings to idealism. "Um...in that case...can we forget I just did that?" She grinned weakly, eyes begging for some shred of sympathy. Flames licked the edges of her fingers, rapidly engulfing her hands. This time, she had to blink twice for them to vanish and her hands felt absurdly cold when they disappeared.

Nemo pretended he hadn't heard her pitiful plea, "Please, Madam. What is your name?"

"Pegeen Starling." She replied meekly, realizing that she was intimidated by this tall, dark foreigner.

"And I am Captain Nemo." He added extra emphasis to the title, "The man on my right is Doctor Jekyll, whom you have met. And then there is Miss Harker, our scientist," Mina sat down next to Pegeen with a graceful nod in her direction. "To your immediate right is Agent Tom Sawyer, and then the man with greasepaint on his face is Rodney Skinner."

"Wot?" Skinner asked indignantly, "Don't I get a bloody title?" Without waiting for a reply, he heaved an obnoxious sigh and adjusted his glasses to focus directly on Pegeen, "The name's Rodney Skinner, gentleman thief."

"A pleasure, Mister Skinner, sir. And Captain Nemo and Agent Sawyer and Dr. Jekyll and Miss Harker." Pegeen found it remarkably easy to remember their names. After all, she loved to read and watch movies. All of them had been in at least both mediums once.

"She called me sir," Skinner leaned back, an oddly satisfied smirk on his face. He elbowed Sawyer none too gently, "Didja hear that one, Sawyer? 'Sir'. Ahehe."

Mina and Jekyll rolled their eyes in unison. Jekyll cleared his throat anxiously, trying to steady his voice so that he didn't sound like a wimp. A dark chuckle resounded in the back of his head **A wimp? Too late for that, Henry.** Jekyll resolutely ignored Hyde. "W-we have a few things to discuss." He spoke clearly, stuttering only once.

"About me?" Pegeen asked, then regretted the naked shock in her tone. Of course about her. No one else magically materialized on a submarine and escaped with less than an interrogation.

"Indeed, Miss Starling." Nemo replied for Jekyll, "But we shall begin after the first course is served." He nodded to a crewmember by the door and servants brought in dishes of food and served them to the seated people.

Pegeen almost grabbed her fork and dug in, but checked herself in time. Weren't there different customs in 1900? She figured she should wait until the others began eating. Her glance slitted sideways and she noted the amount of food Mina put on her fork and how she used the utensils. Peggy noticed that whenever Jekyll glanced in her direction, he winced as though looking at something particularly painful. Nemo had a strange sort of sympathy mixed with revulsion. Mina was distant but Pegeen already found that she was strangely fond of the older woman. Tom grinned easily but she could tell he was thinking about something. Skinner looked mildly suspicious of her as well as mildly interested in a way that Pegeen didn't quite like.

After they had eaten for a few minutes, Nemo looked at Jekyll, prompting him to begin. After a couple false starts, Jekyll finally said, "Do you have headaches, Miss S-s-starling?" Pegeen frowned, but nodded cautiously. "Combined with dizziness? Or perhaps the feeling that you're going to p-p-pass out?"

"Yes..."

"Shortness of breath? Weakness in the legs? Extreme fatigue?"

"Doctor," Pegeen asked, swallowing the hard knot in her throat, "What are you trying to tell me?"

Jekyll did fail to reply this time. Mina kindly stepped in, lowering her soup spoon back into her bowl. "Pegeen," She said gently, "Did you ever think that these symptoms might mean something?"

"No!" Pegeen lied shrilly, fingers trembling as she clutched her spoon for dear life. "I'm fine, I don't hurt. What do you mean? What are you trying to say?" In her childhood, Pegeen had always been exceptionally sensitive and easily upset. Tears brimmed on the edges of her deep red-brown eyelashes.

"Have you ever noticed any...odd things happenings around you?" Nemo interrupted. Perhaps another question would help to ease them into the other topic. "Any things that seemed impossible? Almost like hallucinations?"

"Um," Pegeen thought, staring into her chowder for an answer. She could lie again but they had taken care of her, and probably deserved the truth. "Sometimes...sometimes I think I see fire where there isn't any. And sometimes the fires become real."

Electricity crackled in the air as the League met her eyes. _Ah, a pyrokinetic._ Mina thought wisely. "Can you make the fires come on your own?"

"I don't know–I've never tried." She replied truthfully. Pegeen promptly looked down at her napkin and frowned in concentration. _Come on_ she thought _Where are the flames when I want them?_ A second later, the delicate fabric exploded in a flurry of sparks and heat. She had only a moment to realize that she had made it work before the flames rebounded and tore into the back of her skull, digging with razor-sharp talons through her brain. Pegeen screamed in pain, the sound tainted with an anguish that was heart-rending to hear. The pain quickly overwhelmed the petite high school student and she passed out, face landing squarely in the soup with an almost comical plop.

Skinner had to resist laughing long enough to say, "I didn't think we were that bad o' company."

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Again, thank you to Loyal, Caiden, Grem333,and ToTaKeKe for reviewing! In response to Loyal's request, I did make the chapter longer I hope you all enjoyed it! All suggestions are welcomed and considered. Please read and review, as always:P


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